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BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 


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UNIVERSITY 
CALIFORNIA 


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Biography  and  Early  Life  Sketch 
of  the  late 

ABRAM  SORTORE 

Including 

His  Trip  to  California 

and  Back 

Alexandria,  Missouri 

March  25 

1909 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/biographyearlyliOOsortrich 


Biography  and  Early  Life  Sketch 

of  the  late 

ABRAM  SORTORE 

Including 

His  Trip  to  California 

and  Back 

Alexandria,  Missouri 

March  25 

J  909 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


WRITTEN  TO  HIS   NIECE 
JENNIE  THOMAS 

Alexandria,  Mo. 
March  25,  1909 

Jennie,  my  dear  niece,  you  ask- 
ed me  to  give  you  a  sketdh  of  my 
earlier  life,  including  my  trip  to 
California  and  back. 

With  my  fathers  family  on  a 
raft  of  pine  lumber,  we  started 
west  from  "Scio"  Alleghanny  Co. 
N.  Y.  on  the  1st  day  of  March, 
1845. 

We  ran  our  "raft"  down  the 
Alleghanny  River  far  as  the  In- 
dian Reserve.  Here  the  water  got 
so  low  we  could  not  run  over  the 
mill-dam  so  we  laid  here  some 
six  weeks  or  more  when  there 
came  a  rise  in  the  river  and  we 
moved  on  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Clarion  River  when  again  "be- 
cause of  low  water"  were  com- 
pelled to  lay  by.  This  time  for  5 
or  6  months. 

As  I  did  not  have  to  foot  the 
"bills"  it  was  all  very  pleasant 
for  me,  for  while  on  the  Indian 
Reserve  I  made  friends  with  the 
Indians.  Went  hunting  and  fish- 
ing with  them;  then  we  would 
divide  the  game,  they  always  be- 
ing more  than  willing  to  give  me 
my  full  share  in  the  divide. 

During  our  stop  on  the  Clar- 
ion River  by  brother  Wm.  and  I 
unloaded  from  the  raft  a  span  of 
horses  and  threshing  machine 
which  we  had  along  and  while 
here  did  considerable  threshing  it 
being  mostly  a  "Dutch  Settle- 
ment" where  "every  hour"  the 
machine  must  stop  and  everybo- 
dy treated  to  both  water  and 
whisky. 

This,  you  will  note,  was  in 
your  Prohibition  State,  Pennsyl- 
vania and  it  was  the  most  "fiery" 
whiskey  I  ever  drank. 


But  soon  the  water  came  up 
booming,  spread  all  over  every- 
where and  we  soon  glided  down 
to  Cincinnatti  where  we  sold  our 
raft,  loaded  our  goods  (including 
the  threshing  machine)  on  a 
steam  boat  and  came  to  Keokuk, 
Iowa,  arriving  here  on  the  5th 
day  of  November. 

My  father  then  bought  a  farm 
in  the  Mormon  Settlement,  eight 
miles  north  of  Keokuk  where  I 
worked  with  him  until  the  spring 
of  1850. 

I  was  then  21  years  old  and 
with  no  sweetheart  to  letave  be- 
hind I  joined  with  three  of  my 
neighbors  in  the  great  rush  to 
California  for  "Gold." 

But  before  starting  to  Califor- 
nia must  tell  you  that  we  reach- 
ed the  Mormon  Settlement  in 
time  to  see  the  smoke  and  hear 
the  roar  of  "Cannon"  when  the 
Citizens  fired  on  the  Mormons  to 
drive  them  from  Nauvoo  (111.) 
just  across  the  (Miss.)  river  from 
our  home. 

After  they  succeeded  in  driving 
them  across  the  river  they  would 
steal  anything  they  could  appro- 
priate to  their  own  use  in  get- 
ting away. 

They  stole  a  yoke  of  oxen  from 
each  of  two  of  my  brother-in- 
laws  and  I  joined  them  in  search 
of  their  oxen. 

By  a  few  scattering  leaves  of 
com  fodder  we  trailed  them  into 
a  thicket  of  underbrush  where 
we  found  the  oxen  corralled  in  a 
small  pen.  We  opened  the  pen 
and  drove  the  oxen  home.  This 
is  the  only  time  they  ever  moles- 
ted us  in  any  way. 

We  are  now  back  to  March  28, 
1850,  when  the  wagon  was 
brought  into  my  father's  yard 
and  each  man  brought  his  diare 
of  provisions  with  which  to  load 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


it.  Flour,  meat,  coffee,  butter,  su- 
gar, beans,  rice,  dried  apples,  salt, 
tea  and  some  "collery  medicine'* 
I  think  completes  the  list. 

The  next  day  each  brought  a 
yoke  of  nice  oxen,  making  4  yoke 
in  all  and  one  new  milk  cow, 
with  the  understanding  that 
should  any  one  get  homesick  or 
for  any  reason  turn  back  he 
should  forfeit  all  of  his  belong- 
ings except  his  clothing. 

We  are  now  ready  for  off  but 
while  some  were  shedding  tears 
at  parting  with  their  wives  and 
loved  one  I  picked  up  the  whip 
and  waved  at  the  oxen  to  move 
up  and  while  passing  out  the 
gate  and  up  the  lane  I  was  sing- 
ing "I  am  going  to  Sacramento 
with  my  wash-pan  on  my    knee". 

In  2  days  we  had  traveled  a- 
bout  60  miles  and  camped  near 
Bentonsport  and  that  night  it 
turned  cold  and  snowed  6  inches. 

We  laid  there  two  weeks  and  it 
turned  warm  and  all  except  one 
of  our  party  started  on  our  jour- 
ney. 

He  being  homesick  started  for 
home.  Neither  did  we  go  very 
much  farther  until  another  of  our 
party  turned  back.  Thus  leaving 
"Scott"  (my  brother-in-law)  and 
myself  to  make  the  trip  to  Calif. 

The  weather,  roads  and  grass 
were  fine,  plenty  of  game,  most- 
ly deer.  My  mother  had  filled  a 
3  gal.  bucket  with  butter.  My!  I 
can  now  taste  venison  fried  in 
butter. 

Everyhing  went  fine  to  the  Mo. 
river.  Struck  this  at  a  little  Mor- 
mon town  called  Canesville, 
where  Council  Bluffs  now  stands. 
Just  on  the  other  side  of  the  river 
where  about  50  Mormons  had 
wintered  the  year  before  was 
called  Winter  Quarters.  No  Mor- 
mons there  but  could  see  relics 


of  their  old  fire-places  and  "such 
like".  Here  we  saw  our  first  In- 
dians. They  were  friendly  but  our 
Oxen  were  afraid  of  them.  This 
is  where  Omaha  now  stands. 

We  then  went  on  to  Piatt  Riv- 
er, where  we  joined  a  company 
of  75  teams.  Could  get  our  wag- 
ons ferried  across  but  to  get  the 
cattle  across,  myself  and  anoth- 
er man  swam  across  behind 
them.  After  crossing  the  river  we 
left  the  large  and  joined  one  of  3 
teams.  Then  went  on  about  75 
miles  to  "Wood  River"  where  we 
had  to  lay  by  until  about  3  or  4 
hundred  teams  which  were  ahead 
of  us  could  cross,  but  soon  as  ac- 
ross the  river  here  we  had  occa- 
sion to  get  "in  readiness"  our  col- 
lery medicine  for  from  here  to 
Ft.  Laramie  (a  Govt.  Ft.  about 
400  miles)  we  were  scarcely  out 
of  sight  of  someone  digging  a 
"grave." 

The  only  prevention  we  used 
was  to  boil  all  our  drinking  wat- 
er and  not  one  of  our  company 
was  sick  and  a  man  from  anotih- 
er  company  who  took  our  medi- 
cine got  well. 

Ft.  Laramie  is  situated  in  the 
forks  of  Platte  River. 

The  old  Morman  trail  crossed 
the  river  and  passed  the  Ft.  on 
the  south  side  75  miles  thenc3 
crossing  back  to  the  north  side, 
but  some  of  us  being  afraid  of 
collery  in  the  Ft.  about  25  wag- 
ons with  ours  kept  up  on  the 
north  side  and  thru  the  "Black 
Hills." 

But  after  leaving  Ft.  Laramie 
we  never  saw  nor  heard  of  an- 
other case  of  collery.  After  about 
3  days  travel  in  the  Black  Hills, 
very  suddenly  after  dinner,  we 
could  hear  the  roaring  of  an  ap- 
proaching hail  storm.  Both  men 
an  1  cattle  seemed  frightened. 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


My  partner  fastened  down  the 
wagon  cover  more  securely  while 
I  turned  the  wagon  "side  to  the 
wind",  loosened  the  oxen  there 
from  and  put  them  on  the  side 
from  the  wind  then  jumped  into 
the  wagon.  Our  cover  turned  the 
storm,  the  oxen  crowded  against 
the  wagon  almost  upsetting  it, 
but  we  came  thru  all  right  and 
dry,  while  others  who  did  not 
loosen  their  oxen  from  the  wa- 
gons had  the  wagons  upset,  some 
had  tongues  broken  out  but  no 
one  except  two  men  (from  my 
old  home  neighborhood)  were 
seriously  hurt. 

These  men  were  out  hunting  at 
the  time  and  were  so  badly  dren- 
ched and  beaten  with  the  bail 
that  it  was  with  difficulty  that 
they  were  able  to  make  it  back 
to  the  wagons. 

The  storm  was  soon  passed  and 
the  sun  shining.  We  then  all  went 
to  work  setting  wagons  right  side 
up,  making  wagon  tongues  and 
such  like,  when  again  we  were 
ready  for  travel  and  very  soon 
we  reached  where  the  Mormon 
trail  crossed  back  to  North  Platte 
At  the  ferry  we  met  some  of  our 
old  Summitville  friends  who  had 
followed  the  Mormon  trail  up  the 
south  side  of  Platte  river. 

Everything  went  fine  for  sev- 
eral days,  plenty  of  wood,  water 
and  grass. 

We  had  all  the  time  had  a 
"Mormon  Guide  Book"  to  go  by, 
but  here  we  made  a  mistake  in 
counting  from  it,  for  thinking  we 
were  not  yet  to  the  Desert  we 
started  after  dinner  onto  a  25 
mile  desert.  There  was  neither 
grass,  wood  nor  water.  We  reach- 
ed Willow  Springs  at  11  p.  m. 
that  night,  gave  our  cattle  water, 
■tied  them  to  the  wagons  and 
went  to  bsd,  but  the  bailing  of 


cattle,  nickering  of  horses  and 
braying  of  mules  sounded  the 
most  doleful  I  ever  heard. 

The  next  morning  we  learned 
that  out  a  few  miles  from  the 
mxain  road  was  plenty  of  grass, 
and  all  except  Scott  (my  part- 
ner) wanted  to  take  their  cattle 
out  for  breakfast  but  he  being 
discouraged  insisted  that  the  cat- 
tle would  all  die  and  that  he 
would  rather  hunt  "grass" 
straight  ahead  so  after  giving  our 
oxen  2  or  3  crackers  each  for 
breakfast  we  yoked  and  hitched 
them  to  the  wagon  (leaving  the 
remainder  of  our  company  be- 
hind) we  started  on  our  journey. 
Had  only  gone  5  or  6  miles  when 
we  came  to  where  2  wagons  were 
camped  and  plenty  of  grass,  but 
the  water  was  alkale  and  result- 
ed in  the  death  of  one  of  our  cat- 
tle but  we  kept  the  others  from 
drinking  it.  (Then  with  these  2 
wagons  we  traveled  clear  thru  to 
Hangtown,  now  Placerville,  Calif. 
From  this  camp  on  the  desert  we 
went  to  the  Rocky  Mts.  where 
the  range  of  rocks  was  perhaps  % 
mile  wide  with  just  a  cut  thru 
the  rocks  some  2  or  3  hundred  ft. 
deep  and  wide  enough  for  two 
wagons  to  pass.  This  is  called 
"South  Pass"  about  80  rods  north 
of  this  pass  is  a  cut  from  the  top 
of  the  rocks  to  the  level  of  the 
ground  and  passing  thru  this  is  a 
branch  of  Platte  river  called 
"Sweetwater".  No  doubt  there 
has  been  a  large  lake  west  of  this 
range  of  rocks  which  time  has 
drained  by  the  constant  pouring 
of  its  waters  over  them  thus 
making  the  cut  thru  the  rocks. 

At  the  summit  of  these  Mts. 
was  Pacific  Springs  the  source  of 
"fountain  head"  of  which  is  to- 
dav  as  much  of  a  mystery  to  me 
as  it  was  at  that  time.  The  gra- 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


dual  decent  down  the  Mts.  and 
on  to  Green  River  being  attend- 
ed with  plenty  of  grass,  wood 
and  water  all  went  well. 

But  at  Green  river  the  boat 
was  out  of  repair  and  by  the  time 
they  got  it  back  there  was  near 
300  teams  waiting  to  cross.  It 
was  a  small  flat  boat,  only  large 
enough  to  take  one  wagon  at  a 
time  and  only  ferried  wagons. 
Had  to  swim  our  oxen.  The  river 
was  high  and  exceedingly  rapid. 
We  got  there  about  noon,  found 
the  men  trying  to  swim  their 
cattle  across.  They  would  swim 
about  half  way  across  then  get 
frightened,  the  front  ones  turn- 
ing back  would  try  to  climb  onto 
each  other  and  in  that  way  sev- 
eral head  were  drowned  before 
returning  to  shore.  The  Captain 
wanted  us  to  start  our  cattle  in 
ahead  and  if  ours  would  cross, 
theirs  would  follow.  Some  of  my 
company  said:  "All  right  take  off 
the  yoke".  I  swelled  up  and  said: 
"No,  sir!  I  have  one  yoke  of  ox- 
en that  I  can  drive  across  and 
they  will  not  turn  back  if  only 
they  can  hear  me  speak  to  them. 
There  is  too  much  noise  and  coa- 
fusion  here  now  but  in  the  mor- 
ning if  you  can  line  up  both  your 
men  and  cattle  with  instruction 
there  is  to  be  no  hollowing  noise 
so  but  my  oxen  can  hear  me 
speak  I  will  start  them  in  and 
you  can  let  yours  string  in  on^? 
and  two  at  a  time  after  them." 
They  did  so  and  when  ours  was 
near  the  center  of  the  river  I  saw 
my  main  oxen  was  frightened 
and  would  turn  his  head  first  up 
and  then  down  the  river.  I  com- 
menced talking  to  him  and  told 
him  what  to  do.  He  straightened 
his  head  for  shore  and  went  as 
also  did  all  the  others  came  thiu 
safely.  I  then  told      them      they 


could  make  all  the  noise  th'fey 
pleased.  They  did  so  and  many 
were  the  cheers  and  greetings  of 
"good  will"  I  received  from  the 
whole  company. 

From  here,  plenty  of  grass, 
wood  and  water  to  Ft.  Bridges, 
an  individual  Ft.  where  an  Indian 
trader  bought  furs  (buffalo  and 
deer  skins)  and  shipped  to 
St.  Louis. 

Leaving  Ft.  Bridges  the  next 
point  is  "Salt  Lake".  We  travel- 
ed down  Bear  river  a  number  of 
miles  fording  it  several  times.  It 
was  running  rapid  and  was  up  to 
th'^  wagon  bed.  Then  we  came  to 
"Webber  river",  followed  it  some 
distance  then  left  it  ani  struck 
into  a  canyon.  The  Mormons  had 
50  soldiers  stationed  here  to  se** 
that  none  of  their  people  should 
get  away  and  leave,  also  that  Un- 
c>  Sam  did  not  send  soldiers 
thru  it  for  at  that  time  they  be- 
lieved the  U.  S.  could  not  force 
its  way  thru  to  the  valley. 

We  struck  the  valley*^  6  miles 
south  of  the  city,  went  up  past 
the  city  3  miles  and  here  we 
camped  7  days  to  rest  our  teams. 
The  next  day  (July  24  being  the 
day  they  arrived  in  the  vallej'-  in 
1846)  was  ce'ebra^i^n  day  with 
the  Mormons.  I  went  and  heard 
Brigam  Young  lecture  in  their 
temple. 

Ttien,  met  with  several  famil- 
ies that  I  knew  in  Iowa  5  years 
before.  The  first  was  Nathan 
Taner.  He  did  not  know  me  until 
I  spoke  to  him,  then  seemed 
greatly  pleased  to  meet  me.  I 
shook  hands  with  his  wife  that 
lived  with  him  in  Iowa.  There 
were  other  women  standing  by, 
three  of  whom  he  intro^^uced  as 
his  wives,  making  4  in  all. 

Then  Barney  Adams  stepped 
up  and  after  giving  me  a  warm 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


hand-shake  he  too  introduced  me 
to  3  wives  and  so  on. 

Soon  after,  Brigam  Young  with 
16  wives  (all  dressed  in  white 
and  wearing  a  uniform  blue  rib- 
bon on  her  arm)  marched  across 
the  square  to  where  a  largo 
crowd  of  Emigrants  were  gather- 
ed and  introduced  himself  as 
"Profit  of  the  Later  Day  Saints". 

His  wives  treated  us  nicely, 
giving  us  all  the  vegetables  we 
could  use  and  invited  us  to  their 
homes. 

Their  "temple"  quite  different 
from  the  one  of  today  was  very 
rough,  built  by  setting  posts  in 
the  ground  and  sided  up  with 
willow  poles  from  one  to  two 
inches  thru,  reaching  to  the  eav- 
es, then  tying  them  at  top  and 
bottom  with  bark.  Then  small  wil 
lows  over  the  top  covered  with 
"dust"  constitued  the  roof. 

.Ju;y  ?.0  we  broke  camp  and 
went  north  of  Salt  Lake  20  miles 
to  Webber  river,  ferried  our  wa- 
gons, sv/am  our  teams,  then  20 
miles  to  Bear  river.  Ferried  both 
wagons  and  cattle  here.  After 
leaving  Bear  river  came  to  a 
small  desert  (25  miles-).  No  wood, 
water  or  grass,  after  which  we 
passed  several  "boiling  wells" 
near  boiling  hot  but  plenty  of 
pure  cold  water  within  80  rods 
of  these  wells,  thence  plenty  of 
wood,  water  and  grass  to  the 
head  of  Humbolt  river.  Followed 
down  it  400  miles  when  it  sank 
into  the  ground  and  wholly  dis- 
appeared. Here  we  came  to  a  des- 
ert (40  mies),  neither  grass 
v/ood  nor  water.  We  started  onto 
this  about  noon.  Had  10  gals,  of 
water  and  several  bundles  of 
hav.  We  wet  the  hay  before  put- 
ting it  in  the  v/agon.  We  traveled 
until  night,  camped  and  f^ave  onr 
oxen  pome  "hay  and  water"  then 


yoked  and  traveled  until  mid- 
night, camped  again  and  gave 
our  cattle  more  hay  and  water 
and  let  them  rest  about  one  hour 
then  traveled  until  daylight 
when  we  camped  and  gave  the 
cattle  the  remainder  of  the  hay 
and  water  except  V2  gal.  water. 
The  road  thus  far  was  a  dead 
level,  the  ground  looked  like  an 
old  ash-bed.  We  now  hitched  and 
the  last  10  miles  was  thru  a  deep 
fine  sand.  This  brought  us  to 
Carson  Lake,  the  sink  of  Carson 
river,  where  both  men  and  cattle 
enjoyed  the  nice  cool  water  after 
their  night  of  travel.  We  traveled 
thru  the  night  in  order  to  cross 
the  last  10  miles  in  the  cool  of 
the  morning  rather  than  in  the 
p.  m.  when  the  sand  would  be 
burning  hot  to  the  cattle's  feet. 

From  here  we  traveled  up  the 
Carson  river  until  we  struck  the 
Siera  Nevada  Mts.  near  Carson 
City.  From  there  to  the  summit 
of  the  Mts.  it  took  us  3  days. 
Could  travel  only  from  3  to  6  mil- 
es per  day.  The  last  night  before 
reaching  the  summit  it  froze  ice 
V2  inch  thick.  This  was  the  rough- 
est, rockiest  and  steepest  road  on 
the  whole  trip.  On  the  summit 
it  was  snowing  and  blowing  so 
that  we  could  hardly  see  our  ox- 
en. This  was  at  11  a.  m.  but  down 
the  steep  slope  we  had  a  nice 
smooth  road?,  and  before  sunset 
were  out  of  the  snow  where  we 
had  nice  roads  and  good  weather 
on  the  "Hang  town"  where  we 
did  our  first  mining  and  here  I 
found  my  first  little  nugget  of 
gold  (about  $4.00)  which  I  have 
yet  as  a  keep-sake.  Soon  we  had 
to  prepare  for  "Winter"  that  is 
Ih^  rainv  season. 

We  wont  to  Louisville  a  little 
mining  town  on  the  south  fork 
of  th?  American  river  20      miles 


6 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


north  of  Tangtown. 

When  we  reached  here  Scott 
(my  partner)  tho't  we  could  do 
better  somewhere  else.  I  did  not 
so  we  separated  and  each  went 
his  own.  I  went  in  with  3  men, 
we  built  a  log  cabin.  Got  it  done 
just  before  the  rains  came.  It 
rained  all  winter.  We  made  very 
little  more  than  our  board  dur- 
ing this  time.  In  the  spring  I 
went  to  Oregon  Bar  on  north 
fork  of  American  river,  worked 
here  near  2  months,  from  here 
went  north  to  the  mouth  of  south 
fork  of  Uba  river  near  Bridge- 
port. 

During  this  time  my  partner 
was  Chas.  Brown  (old  acquaint- 
ance) from  Iowa.  We  worked  on 
this  river  until  the  first  of  Octo- 
ber, 1857  at  which  time  we  start- 
ed for  home.  Went  to  Sacramen- 
to, thence  to  San  Francisco,  then 
took  ship  on  the  "Northwestern" 
for  Del-Sud  Central  America.  As 
soon  as  out  of  the  harbor  were 
the  sea  was  rough  Brown  and  I 
both  got  sea-sick.  All  else  went 
well  to  Acapulco,  Mexico,  when 
a  storm  came  up,  we  were  about 
3  or  4  miles  from  shore  but  the 
wind  blowing  toward  shore  drift- 
ed us  until  by  sea  measure  we 
were  only  1  mile  from  shore  and 
right  by  a  square  high  bluff.  The 
Captain  headed  our  vessel 
straight  from  shore  and  with  a 
full  head  of  steam  could  only  hold 
our  own,  not  gaining  any  from 
10  p.  m.  to  2  a.  m.  when  the  wind 
fell  some  and  we  ran  out  to  sea 
where  we  had  plenty  of  room. 
Never  saw  land  again  until  we 
reached  Sanjuan  Del-Sud  in 
Central  America  where  at  day- 
break we  landed  in  the  harbor 
then  had  20  miles  to  foot  it  to 
Virginia  Bay  little  town  on  the 
banks  of  Lake  Nicaragua.    From 


here  we  thou^t  to  take  shipping 
on  steam  boat  for  Grey  town  but 
learning  that  the  boat  had  gotten 
too  close  to  the  falls  in  Nicara- 
gua river  and  went  over  and 
would  have  to  remain  there 
weeks,  or  until  its  owner  could 
get  cables  from  N.  Y.  with  which 
to  pull  it  back.  But  instead  of 
waiting  sixteen  of  us  bought  a 
large  canoe  (for  $100.00)  called 
"Bungo"  from  the  natives.  It  was 
30  ft.  long,  3  ft.  wide  and  had  4 
oars.  We  could  get  no  provisions 
except  beans.  Had  no  way  to 
cook  them  so  at  11  a.  m.  started 
without  anything  to  eat.  Rowed 
to  the  first  Island  (20  miles)  ex- 
pected we  could  get  bread  b\it 
could  not  so  spread  our  beds  and 
slept  very  well  except  when  the 
monkeys  would  run  over  us.  In 
the  morning  we  started  for  the 
next  Island  (40  miles)  About  9 
a.  m.  the  wind  raised,  dashing 
the  waves  into  our  "Bungo"  so 
that  it  kept  one  man  busy  bailing 
water. 

We  could  make  no  headway 
and  did  not  get  to  the  Island  un- 
til after  dark. 

Our  clothing  all  dripping  wet, 
no  supper,  and  with  but  one  dry 
match  in  the  crowd  we  kindl'^d 
a  fire  and  hung  our  blankets  to 
"drip." 

We  stood  by  the  fire  until  our 
clothing  had  drained  off  some  — 
listening  to  the  growling  and 
roaring  of  the  California  Lions 
which  were  kept  at  "bey"  only 
by  the  lights  and  crackling  noise 
of  our  fire,  but  notwithstanding 
all  this,  wrapped  in  our  wet 
blankets  (with  only  occasional 
replenishing  of  the  fire  as  some 
one  would  waken)  we  slept 
soundly,  and  ne'er  did  morning* 
U?ht  'ere  dawn  upon  a  happier 
crew  as  "without  breakfast"     we 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


set  sail  for  Island  No.  3  (10  mil- 
es distant.) 

Here  a  pot  of  fish  and  garlic, 
thickened  a  little  with  flour  was 
eaten  with  relish  which  "none 
but  sixteen  men  who  had  not 
tasted  food  for  48  hours"  could 
have  eaten. 

From  here  our  next  stop  (10 
miles)  at  St.  Charles  on  Nicara- 
gua river  just  at  the  outlet  of 
the  lake. 

Here  we  got  something  which 
I  think  the  Spaniards  called 
"bread."  It  was  in  chunks  and 
tasted  something  like  fried  cak- 
es, without  sugar,  but  it  was 
good  ,so  good  that  we  took  a  sup- 
p-y  as  we  journeyed  down  the 
river.  The  river  was  exceeding- 
ly high  at  this  time  and  the  coun- 
try being  so  level  it  spread  seem- 
ingly  everywhere. 

It  was  80  miles  from  St.  Charl- 
es to  the  mouth  of  the  river  and 
about  40  miles  down  from  St. 
Charles  were  heavy  falls  in  the 
river.  We  reached  these  falls  just 
as  night  was  coming  on,  and  not 
caring  to  go  "splashing"  over 
them  in  the  night  we  andhored  or 
tied,  as  it  were,  our  boat  to  the 
limb  of  a  large  tree  which  seem- 
ingly stood  about  midway  of  the 
river  and  here  crouched  upon 
our  oars  we  camped  for  the 
night. 

But  the  huge  alligators,  pro- 
truding their  heads  from  the  wa- 
ter kept  us  in  constant  dread  of 
having  our  "Bungo"  upset  that 
our  restful  sleep  was  not  to  be 
compared  with  out  slumbers  on 
tho  Island  with  the  "California 
lions". 

When  daylight  came  we  rowed 
to  land  and  our  crew  <^excep*inf* 
3  men  including  myself)  lan-^ed, 
carrying  with  them  our  blankets, 
Spanish  bread,  heaps  of  gold  and 


such  like. 

They  proceeded  to  journey  on 
land  until  below  the  falls,  while 
we  three  (stripped  for  swimming 
manned  the  boat  safely  o'er  the 
falls  and  to  where  our  "crew" 
was  again  taken  on,  from  thence 
we  glided  down  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Nicaragua  river.  We  reached 
here  at  dark,  but  the  "wharf 
master"  not  allowing  us  to  land 
until  the  next  morning,  we  a- 
gain  camped  on  our  oars  for  the 
night. 

The  next  morning  we  landed 
at  Greytown  but  found  there 
were  more  men  than  could  well 
find  shelter  in  the  town,  but  our 
little  band  of  "16  men"  had  the 
good  fortune  to  rent  a  room  12  x 
16  ft.  square,  without  anything 
in  it  for  $8.00  per  month  in  ad- 
vance. This  furnished  accommo- 
dations  for  all  16  of  us. 

This  was  found  to  be  a  "sick- 
ly" place,  for  different  mornings 
men  were  found  "dead"  lying  be- 
side the  fences  or  street  w'A  no 
one  to  look  after  them. 

We  remained  here  a  whole 
week  before  we  could  take  ship- 
ping for  N.  Y.  While  here  one  of 
our  men  seeking  revenge  on  the 
Wharf-Master  for  not  allowing 
us  to  land  that  night  slipped  out 
and  "spiked  the  cannon"  (which 
went  off  at  9  o'clock  every  nig'ht 
as  signal  for  everybody  to  be  off 
the  streets.)  When  me  cannon 
failed  to  go  off  the  master  (as  he 
tho't  he  would)  came  out  to  in- 
vestigate the  cause  thereof,  then 
our  man  knocked  him  down  with 
his  fist,  gave  him  a  black  eye, 
then  dodged  around  the  back 
way.  came  to  the  room,  turned 
the  key  in  the  door  and  witSi  the 
rest  of  us  was  soon  snugly  tuck- 
ed in  his  blanket  for  the  night. 

Presently  a  call  came  from  the 


8 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


soldiers  *'to  know  whether  or  not 
our  men  were  all  in." 

We  opened  the  door  and  invit- 
ed them  to  come  in  and  see  for 
themselves.  They  did  so  and  coun- 
ting the  whole  number  "16"  they 
went  away  satisfied  of  our  inno- 
cence. 

We  had  exi)ected  to  go  en  the 
main  line  steamer  "Permitheus". 
Brown  and  I  wanted  to  go  to 
New  New  Orleans,  but  as  we 
would  not  miss  a  chance  of  get- 
ting away  from  here  we  took 
passage  on  "Brother  Johnithan' 
which  came  into  the  harbor 
bound  for  N.  Y. 

Had  good  weather,  no  storms 
between  here  and  Kingston  on 
the  Island  of  Jamaica.  It  took  4 
days  to  land  here.  I  was  sea-sick 
about  all  the  while.  We  laid  here 
2  days  and  one  night  taking  on 
coal.  When  we  landed  our  vessel 
drew  8  ft.  of  water  and  when 
they  had  finished  coaling  it 
drew  16  ft.  My  sea-sickness  left 
me  soon  as  I  left  the  vessel. 

While  here,  I  boarded  at  the 
"Hotel".  Kingston  is  a  pretty 
town  about  one  mile  square.  The 
buildings  mostly  three  story 
bricks  with  tile  roofing.  The  peo- 
ple were  very  friendly. 

On  Friday  we  started  for  N.  Y. 
and  made  good  time,  nice  weath- 
er until  Sunday  p.  m.  about  4 
o'clock. 

My  partner  (Chas.  Brown)  and 
I  were  sitting  on  the  deck  in 
front  of  the  Captains  door  coun- 
ting that  it  would  take  us  2  days 
to  N.  Y.,  4  days  to  Pittsburg,  4 
days  to  Cincinatti,  Ohio,  6  days 
to  St.  Louis,  2  days  to  Keokuk, 
then  2  hours  home. 

While  thus  counting,  the  mate 
came  to  the  Captains  door  and 
said,  "We  are  going  to  have  a 
squall." 


The  Captain  walked  out  and 
looked  around  but  went  back  to 
his  cabin.  The  mate  towards  the 
center  of  the  ship  called  "Sailors 
on  Deck!"  In  less  than  a  half 
minute  the  sailors  (16  in  num- 
ber) were  standing  by  the  mate 
apj>arently  breathless.  Again  the 
mate  spoke  to  the  Captain.  This 
time  the  Captain  said,  "Go  a- 
way!  There  is  no  sign  of  a  squall" 
The  mate  then  said,  "Every  sail 
on  the  vessel  is  stretched  and  if 
not  taken  in  they  will  go  over- 
board." To  this  the  Captain  again 
came  out,  then  said,  "Take  in  the 
sai's." 

The  mate  then  ordered  the 
sailors  aloft  and  the  passengers 
below. 

The  "squall"  struck  us  just  as  I 
was  about  ^/^  way  down  the  stairs 
It  broke  all  three  masts  off  a- 
bout  20  ft.  above  deck.  The  main 
mast  breaking  a  hole  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  ship  letting  the  water 
in  at  a  rapid  rate.  The  ship  had 
on  board  a  separate  engine  for 
pumping  water  from  the  ship,  but 
this  engine  was  out  of  repair. 

The  head  engineer  proceeded 
to  take  the  cylinder  head  off  and 
fix  it.  He  was  a  christian  man 
and  went  to  work  perfectly  ca^m 
and  composed,  while  others  were 
frantic  and  some  swearing,  but 
he,  working  av/ay,  said:  "Wo 
must  do  our  duty  and  if  its  Grod's 
will  for  us  to  sink,  His  will  be 
done." 

Another  officer  passing  through 
the  vessel  said:  "There  is  6  ft.  of 
water  in  the  vessel  now  and  we. 
can  carry  but  8  ft."  Oh!  How  fast 
thoughts  flew  thru  my  head. 

The  prayers  that  I  had  heard 
my  father  and  mother  offer  for 
their  children.  I  then  prayed  God 
to  forgive  my  sins,  but  it  seemed 
all  the   answer  I  could  get  was 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OP  ABRAM  SORTORE 


9 


"You  have  left  it  too  long,  it  is 
too  late.  Your  time  has  come." 
While  I  could  not  remember 
when  I  did  not  believe  "Christ 
died  for  me."  Still  I  could  not 
feel  reconciled  that  I  could  meet 
God  in  peace.  But  oh!  if  only  I 
could  have  a  little  time  on  earth 
again  I  would  not  say  "I  will 
wait  until  older  or  until  I  get 
sick,  then  will  seek  the  Lord  but 
if  I  ever  have  opportunity  I  will 
seek  Him  first  and  be  ready  for 
His  coming. 

About  this  time  the  engineer 
put  on  the  last  "tap"  and  turned 
on  the  steam.  It  went  all  right, 
kept  the  water  at  6  ft.  but  could 
not  settle  it  any.  The  next  mor- 
ning was  bright  and  clear.  The 
storm  had  blown  us  back  60  mil- 
es. Travel  was  slow  that  day  be- 
cause of  so  much  water  in  the 
vessel.  All  went  well  that  day 
and  night.  Next  morning,  Tues- 
day, when  the  bell  in  the  first 
cabin  rang  for  breakfast  there 
stood  the  Captain  at  the  head  of 
the  table  with  a  few  of  his  aristo- 
cratic friends  at  his  right.  Just 
then  the  Head  Engineer  (with  20 
firemen  just  as  they  came  from 
their  work  down  in  the  vessel 
shoveling  coal)  stepped  in.  He, 
too,  was  covered  with  coal  smoke 
and  grease  and  with  no  sleep 
since  the  storm  commenced,  but 
he  went  straight  to  the  table. 
"Here",  the  Captain  shouted, 
"Take  those  dirty  men  out  of 
here",  but  instead  the  Engineer 
standing,  returned  thanks.  He 
did  not  eat  himself  but  waited  on 
all  the  firemen  who  ate  with  a 
relish. 

The  Captain  then  said  "There 
is  a  law  to  punish  a  man  for  dis- 
obeying his  Captain  when  out  at 
sea,  and  I  shall  see  to  enforcing 
it  when  I  reach  N.  Y." 


"Yes,"  said  the  Engineer, 
"There  is  a  law  this  side  of  N.  Y. 
that  may  be  enforced.  Did  we  not 
raise  our  hands  toward  heaven 
and  before  God,  promising  that 
in  time  of  ship-wreck  or  storms 
that  we  would  do  all  in  our 
power  to  protect  the  ship,  the 
passengers,  and  the  crew,  and 
with  them  to  share  a  like  fate. 
Now  our  vessel  is  wrecked,  has  a 
hole  in  the  bottom  which  can 
get  no  smaller,  and  sooner  or  lat- 
er it  must  sink,  now  it  is  our  du- 
ty to  push  the  vessel  as  fast  as 
we  can  and  5  of  our  firemen  are 
sick  now  from  over-work  the 
night  of  the  storm  and  are  not 
being  cared  for.  The  others  are 
having  additional  work  in  get- 
ting the  coal  to  the  furnace.  They 
work  4  hours  and  then  are  off  4 
hours  and  have  had  nothing  to 
eat  since  4  p.  m.  yesterday.  I  be^ 
lieve  there  is  not  a  passenger  a- 
mong  the  650  who,  if  they  will  go 
and  see  how  these  men  work,  and 
knowing  that  our  speed  depends 
wholly  upon  them,  but  what 
would  say  Give  these  men  their 
meals  first."  Both  the  passengers 
and  crew  that  heard  this  conver- 
sation looked  with  indignation 
upon  the  Captain  and  shouted — 
"Give  the  firement  their  meals! 
I  can  wait  or  do  without."  Some 
said  "Put  the  Captain  below  and 
make  him  shovel  coal!" 

But  the  Lord  smiled  in  com- 
passion and  landed  us  safely  on 
lard  at  N.  Y.  Friday  morning  at 
8  a.  m.  But  our  vessel  sank  that 
day  at  4  p.  m.  As  I  was  going 
from  the  landing  to  a  Hotel  I  re- 
membered by  promise  to  God.  t 
prayed  now  to  Him  again  and 
thanked  Him  for  my  deliverance 
from  a  "watery  grave"  and  right 
here  I  realized  that  God  had  for- 
given my  sins  and     I    promised 


10 


EARLY  LIFE  SKETCH  OF  ABRAM  SORTORE 


Him  that  I  would  live  a  christian 
man  the  remainder  of  my  life. 
This  promise  I  made  to  my  God 
not  to  the  preacher,  and  har 
been  a  blessing  and  comfort  to 
me  until  this  day,  and  shall  live 
in  hoi>e  of  a  continuation  of  Gods 
comforting  spirit  until  He  shall 
call  me  from  earth  to  His  Tribu- 
nal above.  Then  can  I  feel  that  ] 
am  leady  to  meet  him  in  Peace 
and  can  say:  "It  is  well  with  my 
soul." 

At  7  p.  m.  of  the  same  day  of 
our  'aiiding  at  N.  Y.  we  took  the 
boat  for  Philadelphia.  Reached 
there  at  10  p.  m,  Nov.  27,  1851 
Went  to  a  Hotel  where  we  had  a 
nice  clean  bed  the  first  feather- 
bed I  had  slept  on  since  leaving 
my  mothers  bed  in  Iowa. 

The  next  morning  we  went  to 
the  "U.  S.  Mint"  where  we  had 
our  gold  coined  into  "money." 
Wnile  there,  we  were  shown  lihru 
the  mint.  Saw  where  the  first 
coin  took  3  minutes  to  stamp  a 
10  ct.  piece,  while  a  newer  pro- 
cess for  stamping  they  could 
stamp  50  pieces  in  3  minutes 
The  difference  being  in  the  pow- 
er used.  The  old  method  by  man 
power,  the  newer  method  by 
steam  power. 

After  spending  a  few  days  hi 
the  city  my  partner  (Brown)  and 
I  seperated.  He  starting  for  hi'? 
home  at  Montrose,  Iowa  (where 
he  is  still  living)  and  I  for  Scio 
Alleghany  Co.,  N.  Y.  where  I 
was  raised  and  from  where  I  left 
on  the  raft  of  pine  lumber  hi 
March  of  1845. 

But  Scott  (my  partner  thru  to 
Calif.)   never  returned.  The  last 


account  that  could  be  learned  of 
him  was  that  at  San  Francisco 
he  had  bought  a  ticket  and  took 
shipping  for  New  York. 

I  visited  with  relatives  and 
friends  in  S.  W.  New  York  un- 
til the  ice  went  out  of  the  lakes 
and  rivers.  Then  took  Lake  steam 
er  at  "Erie"  for  Detroit,  Mich., 
from  which  place  I  took  train  for 
Chicago.  The  railroad  at  that 
time  being  on  the  "old  strap  ir- 
on" plan  was  built  by  laying  2 
pieces  of  timber  8  in.  square  the 
right  distance  apart,  then  with  a 
bar  of  iron  spiked  on  each  of 
them  for  the  car  wheel  to  run  on. 
These  bars  were  5-8  in.  thick 
and  2  in.  wide  from  Chicago  to 
Ft.  Byron.  At  Ft.  Byron  on  Mis- 
sissippi River  I  took  boat  to 
Montrose,  Iowa  where  after  a 
walk  of  4  miles  I  received  a  glad 
welcome  home,  and  there  re- 
mained until  in  July  1853  I  was 
married. 

Then  from  my  pile  of  Califor- 
nia "gold  dust"  I  purchased  the 
little  farm  here  in  Clark  Co.,  Mo., 
which  (with  the  sweat  of  my 
brow  thrown  in)  has  ever  since 
procured   for  myself  and   family 

a  comfortable  home. 
•  *  * 

The  foregoing  was  dedicated 
by  Mr.  Sortore  to  his  niece.  Miss 
Almena  Osborn  and  written  by 
her,  for  him. 

Mr.  Sortore's  home  was  south 
and  east  of  Wayland,  now  own- 
ed by  Chas.  Neumann.  He  was 
the  father  of  the  late  Mrs.  Ora 
Nelson  and  grandfather  of  Rus- 
sell Nelson. 


